


Remembrance

by dramatic owl (snarky_panda)



Category: Mulan (1998)
Genre: Angst, Challenge Response, Drama, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-04
Updated: 2013-05-04
Packaged: 2017-12-10 10:07:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/784848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snarky_panda/pseuds/dramatic%20owl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The writing on the wooden tablets was faded, so long had it been since she visited the family shrine.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Remembrance

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted in 2007 under the pen name lightbird777. Written for two LJ challenges: fic_15, prompt: faded; and 30_memories, prompt: please forget about me. Disclaimer: Not mine, just this story.

She knelt before the wooden tablets, leaning in to brush the dust off one of them with the end of her sleeve. The writing on it was faded, so long had it been since she visited the family shrine.

Mulan frowned as she gazed at the tablets, reflecting on what it was that had brought her here for the first time in years. Once more she was being called into the Emperor's service, but she had a personal stake in this mission as well. She was hoping to find her husband Li Shang, who had disappeared on a mission five years ago this day. Lead weights seemed to settle inside her stomach as she thought about him. If he was still alive, she mused with trepidation, he would look different now, no doubt. But she remembered what he looked like on the day he left; that would never fade from her memory. Tall, handsome, commanding in his armor, bright red cape and general's helmet. A presence to be reckoned with. It was hard to imagine that anyone could have gotten the best of him.

He'd left her alone, expecting a child. But she didn't know that until after he was gone; and maybe it was for the best. He didn't have to know that he might have been a father had she not miscarried. From the stress of his disappearance, the doctor had supposed.

Icy fear clutched at her heart as it occurred to her that maybe he'd been simply bored with married life, with her; soldiers that were used to battle and being on the move often found it hard to adjust to a settled lifestyle. What if she found Shang, alive, but he didn't want to come home?

Bending forward and kowtowing to the ancestors she prayed for their guidance and safe-keeping.


End file.
